Lentil Bolognese

I've heard of substituting lentils for ground beef as a money-saving trick.  Or, add some to half as much beef to stretch it.  I decided to try making "meat" spaghetti sauce (bolognese) using lentils.  I figured that was a safe way to start, since you don't really taste meat in a thick sauce.  It's the texture.

This turned out to be much easier than I expected.  I made the lentils in the morning, because they do take at least half an hour.  It only took ten minutes to assemble the sauce, and the lentils simmered in it while the pasta was cooking.  I loved the flavor, which was probably helped along by using some of the tomato sauce I had made a couple of days before.

The suggestion of adding chopped walnuts to the sauce was from Rainbow Plant Life, but I struck out on my own for the rest of this recipe.  It helps with the mouthfeel and adds extra protein.  I would definitely use that trick again in a vegan recipe.

1 C brown lentils
*1/2 red onion, diced
2 Tb olive oil
*2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
*1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2 Tb Marsala, Port, or other sweet cooking wine, optional
*1/2 C chopped walnuts, optional
1 tsp dried basil, or 1 Tb fresh
1 tsp dried parsley, or 1 Tb fresh
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
salt and pepper to taste

1.  An hour before serving, or early in the day, cook the lentils.  Sort them to remove any stones, rinse, and place in a pot with 3 C water.  Bring to a low boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until they barely start to split, about 30-40 minutes.  Don't let them cook to mush.  Drain and set aside.  Refrigerate if making ahead.

2.  While the water for the pasta is heating, make the sauce.  Heat the oil in a large pot and add the onion and garlic.  Cook on medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add herbs and cook until fragrant, two minutes.

3.  Add tomatoes and their juice and the tomato sauce to the pot.  Stir in Marsala and walnuts, if using.  Bring to a low boil so the alcohol can start to cook off.  After five minutes, taste and add salt and pepper as needed.  Add lentils while the pasta is cooking and bring back up to a low boil.  Taste and adjust seasonings again.

4.  Once the pasta is cooked and drained, you can either mix it into the sauce pot or serve the sauce spooned over it.  Garnish with Parmesan and extra herbs if desired.

Difficulty rating  π

Pasta Salad with Roasted Radishes

I was thinking of making a side dish salad, then noticed that the radishes in my garden were getting exceedingly large.  It was time to roast them up and get creative.

Radishes are almost always sold with the leaves attached.  They are absolutely edible.  They taste kind of like a peppery spinach.  And you paid for them, so you might as well get the benefit.

I really need to stop leaving plants in the garden too long.  Yes, I was waiting for the radishes to get big enough to roast, but one was stupid huge.  I have one green onion that has overstayed its welcome, too.  I'll have to figure out a recipe for that.

*1 bunch radishes with leaves
1 C pearl (Israeli) couscous
*1/4 C sun dried tomatoes
1/4 C olive oil
2 Tb vinegar of choice (I used balsamic)
*1/4 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Cut greens off of radishes and save, trim off any extending taproot, and cut in half into bite-sized pieces.  Toss in a bit of olive oil just to coat and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet or in a roasting dish.  Bake until lightly browned and softened, about 30 minutes.

2.  Start boiling a medium to large pot with 2 C of water while the radishes are roasting.  You can multitask by whisking up the dressing of the rest of the oil, the vinegar, thyme, and salt and pepper.  I also soaked the tomatoes in it.

3.  Cook couscous according to package directions.  Cut the radish leaves off the tough stems and roughly chop.  Add to the pasta in the last two minutes of cooking so they can wilt.

4.  Drain pasta and greens and return to the pot.  Stir in radishes, tomatoes, and dressing and toss until everything is evenly coated.  Can be served anywhere from chilled to hot.  I preferred slightly warmer than room temperature.

Difficulty rating  :)

Pearl Couscous Salad with Tomato Confit and Salmon

I'm not doing pesto this month.  Need a break.  I decided to blow my remaining home-grown tomatoes and last year's tiny garlic on this instead.  Also, the kale needed a trim.

It didn't seem right to add beans to this particular pasta dish for the protein, so I got out a can of salmon.  I forgot that the big cans are literally a rolled piece of fish.  Tastes the same.

I'm calling this a salad, but you could have it hot as a regular pasta dish.  I served it slightly warm, so the olive oil-based sauce would be fluid.

*2 lbs Roma or Campari tomatoes (or a similar salad tomato)
1 head garlic
1 tsp kosher salt
*1 tsp dried basil
1/2-ish C olive oil
2 Tb white wine vinegar
1 C pearl couscous
*6 C chopped leafy green such as kale, chard, or spinach
1 4-serving can salmon or chicken, optional
crumbled or grated cheese, such as parmesan, feta, or chèvre for garnish

1.  At least two hours ahead, or the day before, roast the tomatoes.  Preheat the oven to 375º.  Quarter the tomatoes and place in an 8x8 baking dish.  It's going to be snug, but they should all fit.  Peel the garlic cloves and arrange in the pan.  Sprinkle with the salt and basil.  Drizzle olive oil on the tomatoes until the dish is full at least 1/4" deep.  I didn't measure an exact amount, but the bottle looked like I had used half a cup.  Roast until the tomatoes are thoroughly softened, 60 to 90 minutes.  Set aside until ready to use, in the refrigerator if it's for the next day.

2.  Cook pasta according to package directions.  If using a sturdier green like kale, cook it in the pot with the pasta.  For spinach, you will be adding it after cooking.

3.  Drain the cooked pasta.  Put it back into the pot and stir in cooked tomatoes with their oil, spinach (if using), vinegar, and salmon.  Either chill for cold service, or serve immediately garnished with cheese.

Difficulty rating  :)

Roasted Vegetable and Goat Cheese Pasta

There's a viral TikTok dish of roasting tomatoes with a tub of Boursin cheese and using the resulting goo as pasta sauce.  Then I looked up how much Boursin is running these days, and I don't spend that much on cheese.  The flavor of a 4 oz log of goat cheese goes at least as far.  It just meant I had to alter my preparation.

I'm losing weight again, so I'm slowly sneaking more carbs into my diet to see what I can handle.  Straight up sugar is a bit much, but pasta carbs seem ok.  I forgot to put farfalle (bowtie) on my shopping list, so shells it is.  It was that or macaroni, and I didn't think that would look right.

1 dry pint cherry or grape tomatoes
*1/2 red onion, French sliced
*1/2 lb green beans
*4 oz frozen artichokes, thawed and quartered
*2 cloves garlic, sliced
*1 tsp dried basil
1 Tb olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
*4-6 oz dried pasta of choice (I used one cup of mini shells and forgot to weigh them)
1 4 oz log herbed goat cheese
Parmesan and fresh basil for garnish, optional

1.  Preheat oven to 375º.  In an 8x8 or 9x13 dish, toss together vegetables, oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and basil.  Arrange in an even layer and roast until softened about 30-40 minutes.

2.  Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain without rinsing, and reserve about 3/4 C of the pasta water.  Quickly return pasta to the pot.

3.  Stir cheese directly into hot pasta and break up.  Kind of like making cream cheese sauce in pasta, if you've ever done that.  Add hot vegetables to the pasta and continue to mix in and melt the cheese.  If too thick, add in some of the pasta water until desired consistency is achieved.  Serve hot, with parmesan and basil on top if desired.

Difficulty rating  π

Whole Wheat Noodles

I was going to make a whole elaborate pasta and veggie thing, then this happened:

It isn't broken, but it hurts a lot.  Of all the stupidly hazardous things I do on an average day, I hurt it on the nightstand getting into bed.

So, change of plans.  I decided I could make pasta dough on one foot and opened a bunch of cans for the rest of the meal.  Well, I guess I did cut up a leek.  The finished product wasn't a whole lot different from the original vision, so I'm going to go ahead and post the pasta part of the endeavor.  I definitely would have preferred the taste and texture of fresh vegetables, but the pasta part really was pushing it.

The urgent care team didn't give me a time frame of how long it was going to take to heal.  It probably depends on how much I walk on it.  Which is all the time.  I do at least 15,000 steps a day on work days, about half that on days off, so this is kind of frustrating.  I know, I should be grateful it isn't broken and I don't have to wear a boot.

Because I'm basing this recipe on the one I use for regular pasta, it's in metric and uses the scale.  The yield is about 10 oz once dried, almost 12 oz fresh.  I didn't measure the flour by volume because I made this early before work and let it dry all day.  Before my first cup of coffee, things were running on instinct.

100g whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting
100g bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp olive oil
1 Tb water

1.  Measure both flours and salt into a bowl and whisk together.  If you sub all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, you might not need the water at the end.

2.  Make a well in the middle and crack eggs into it.  Add olive oil and water.  With a fork, work liquid ingredients into the dry.  It's still going to look very crumbly.  Ditch the fork and knead with your hands a few minutes until smooth.  It's still going to be sturdy.  Wrap in plastic so it doesn't dry out.  Rest 30 minutes at room temperature, or in the fridge if you aren't going to get back to it for a while.

3.  Divide the dough ball into 3 or 4 pieces so it's easier to manage.  Flour a surface with wheat flour and roll out the dough very thinly.  I was going to do this all by hand, but foot.  I got out the pasta roller.

4.  Once dough is at desired thickness, cut into strips.  Toss with a little more flour so the slices don't stick together.  To dry, just set aside for several hours until brittle.  Dried pasta may be frozen for several weeks before cooking.

5.  When ready to cook, boil a large pot of at least two quarts of salted water.  Add pasta, stir, and return to a low boil.  Cook until desired tenderness, about 5-8 minutes, drain, and serve with topping of choice.

Difficulty rating  :)

Pesto Vegetables with Pasta

Ok, this would look a whole lot less weird with tri-color rotelli.  I had macaroni.  The point I was trying to make was that this is a vegetable dish, not a pasta one.  Plus bacon, because...bacon.

It also uses only half a cup of pesto for the whole pot.  It was all I had left, and I was kind of wondering if it would be enough.  It absolutely was, because you could taste both the pesto and every other ingredient in the dish.  More would have drowned out the pile of veggies that inspired the whole thing.

I forgot to buy an onion, and subbed in celery.  The herbiness of it came through, and I ended up liking it better than if I had used onion, so it's going in the recipe.

I finally get to showcase my new meal bowls!  The old pasta set served me well, but I wanted something smaller that would look good in a picture.  I'm also saying goodbye to the soup crocks, which get out once a year at the most.  I can use a regular cereal/soup bowl for soups.  These meal bowls will be good for stews, pasta, curries, and salads.  Plus, they go with my other dishes.

1 Tb olive oil
*1 C diced celery (about 3 ribs)
*2 cloves garlic, sliced
*4 C chopped kale or spinach
8 oz button or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
*1 C artichoke hearts, quartered
1 dry pint grape tomatoes
*4 strips cooked, thick-cut bacon
*1/2 C pesto
*4 oz pasta of choice (1 C small piece for salad-style, strand if you want this spaghetti-style)
*Parmesan and/or pine nuts for garnish, optional

1.  Heat the oil in a large pot or deep skillet over medium heat.  Add the celery and cook until slightly softened, 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook another minute, until fragrant.

2.  While that's happening, start a medium sized pot of water boiling for the pasta.

3.  Add the mushrooms to the celery pot and start cooking them down, 5-8 minutes.  If using kale, add it with the mushrooms.  If using spinach, it goes in at the end.  Around now, the pasta water should be boiling, so stir in the pasta to that and get it on a low boil.

4.  Add artichokes and tomatoes to the mushroom mix and put a lid on the pot while the pasta is cooking.  For me, that turned out to be the magical point where the tomatoes taste cooked, but are still firm as though they are fresh.  While both pots are going, chop the bacon into bacon bits.

5.  Remove the cooked pasta from the heat and drain.  Stir bacon and pesto into the veggies (and spinach, if using) until the pesto is evenly distributed, then stir in the pasta.

6.  Spoon mixture into bowls (or refrigerate to serve cold).  Garnish with Parmesan and pine nuts, if using.

Difficulty rating  :)

Chicken-Mac

I bought a pound of cheddar because it was under $3, and that's a really good price.  I rarely get packages over 8oz, so they don't spoil on me.  At some point, I realized it was actually a 2 lb block.  That's a very good price, but now I had two pounds of cheddar to use up.  Mac'n'cheese time.

Because I can't leave well enough alone, a simple macaroni and cheese dinner turned into a one-pot meal.  I had shredded chicken in the freezer, some bacon ends, and broccoli out of the garden.  I was going to add a cup of frozen peas, but it was already getting to be a very full meal.

It looked a lot nicer in my head than it did on the plate, but it tasted great.  Filling comfort food for a rainy winter day.

*2 slices thick-cut bacon
*1 C diced onion
1 tsp paprika
*2 Tb sherry or 1/4 C white wine, optional
2 Tb flour
1-1/2 C milk, or to desired consistency
*2 C shredded cheddar cheese
*1 lb cooked shredded or canned chicken
*2 C broccoli florets
1-1/2 C macaroni

1.  In a large pot, cook the bacon over medium-low until the fat renders and the meat is mostly cooked, about 30 minutes.  Remove bacon and chop into bite-sized pieces, then return to pan.

2.  Start boiling a pot of water for the pasta and broccoli.

3.  Add diced onion and cook in the bacon fat until softened, 5 minutes.  Raise heat to medium and add paprika and flour.  Stir until flour is cooked into a roux, several minutes.

4.  If pasta water is boiling, start cooking.  The rest of this is going to come together quickly.

5.  If using, add alcohol to onion pot and allow to cook down for a minute.  Start adding milk 1/4 C at a time, allowing it to thicken between additions.  Once all is incorporated, stir in chicken.  Around now, the pasta should be almost done, so add the broccoli to it for the last 2-3 minutes.

6.  Stir cheese into sauce mixture until melted.  Drain pasta/broccoli and add to the pot.  Stir everything together and add more milk if it seems too thick to spoon onto a plate.

7.  Serve hot, with extra cheese on top if desired.

Serves about 6

Difficulty rating  :)

Shrimp with Deconstructed Pesto

While I appreciate how well I've managed my basil this year, it has been a challenge to use or preserve the abundance.  I mean, how much pesto do you really need in the freezer?

I decided to do one last severe trim to the pot before it got too cold out and the leaves became damaged.  Since I don't have hard freezes, it will over-winter and bounce back in the spring.  Some of it is hung up to dry, and the rest went into this dish.

All this sauce became was a tomato-basil pesto that you don't run through the food processor.  It's still whole, with all the ingredients intact, just in different proportions.  I went easy on the cheese and heavy on the tomatoes.

The pasta was simple homemade wheat noodles, and the shrimp is thrown into the sauce at the end to cook in its heat.  You can use packaged pasta and pre-cooked shrimp if you want to focus on the sauce.  Same result.

1/4 C olive oil
*4 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can petite diced tomatoes
*4 oz basil leaves
1 Tb lemon juice
salt to taste
*1 lb shrimp, size of choice
*1/2 C parmesan cheese
2 Tb pine nuts for garnish
pasta for serving

1.  Start a pot of water for your pasta.  This will come together faster than I thought.  Heat the oil over medium in a large skillet.

2.  Cook the minced garlic in the oil until fragrant, 2 minutes.  Add the can of tomatoes, with their juice, and the basil.  Bring to a low boil, then lower heat slightly so the basil doesn't fry.  Stir in lemon juice to preserve the color of the basil.  Taste and add salt if needed, keeping in mind the shrimp and cheese will bring some salt to the dish.

3.  After placing the pasta in its pot, add the shrimp to the sauce.  They should cook in about the same amount of time.  Once the shrimp is pink all the way through, turn off the heat.

4.  Serve sauce on top of pasta.  Garnish with pine nuts and cheese.

Difficulty rating  π

Carrot Ravioli

The day I made the fruit cocktail and three other canning recipes, I also ended up making a batch of cookies and homemade ravioli.  I'm not going to have that kind of motivation for the foreseeable future, so I took the opportunity.  There was also a batch of pâte brisée on the list, but I just ran out of time and didn't feel like cleaning the food processor.

This was originally going to be mezzelunes to use up the last of the buckwheat flour.  The nice thing about pasta dough is that it's all the same thing.  You can made over a hundred shapes from the same basic recipe.  I decided that ravioli was less work and about the same number of dishes.  It does help that I used the pasta roller, but that is not necessary.

200 g flour (sorry, you have to weigh this one in metric)
kosher salt
2 eggs
1 tsp olive oil
3/4 C ricotta cheese
1 small carrot
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
pasta sauce of choice (I used *pesto)

1.  For the pasta, stir together flour and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl.  Make a well in the middle.  Crack two eggs into it and add olive oil.  With a fork, bring everything together into a crumbly dough.  If necessary, wet hands and knead until dough is smooth.  Wrap in plastic and let relax at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours in the fridge.

2.  While the dough is resting, make the filling.  Grate or shred carrot (sorry) after peeling.  Stir together with ricotta and marjoram.  Taste and add salt as necessary, or any other spices you might like that go with your sauce.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

3.  Start a large pot boiling with at least a gallon of water and a bit of salt.  Working with half or one-third of the dough at a time, roll out into long strips.  I went to a 5 thickness on my roller, but you're looking for about 1/16" thick.  Definitely less than 1/8", and about 4" wide.

4.  Spoon rounded teaspoons of filling on bottom half of strips, leaving enough room in-between to crimp off the ravioli.  With a damp pastry brush or your finger, wet the dough around the filling.  Fold over top half of dough and press down to seal each filling packet.  With a sharp knife or pizza roller, cut apart each individual raviolo (that really is the singular of ravioli) and place on a lightly floured sheet.

5.  At this point, you can freeze the ravioli for later or cook them now.  Gently place them in the boiling water, checking seals as you go.  I did lose a couple, but it think that was from stirring them with the pointy pasta spoon.  I should have used a flat one.

6.  Cook at a low boil until al dente, about 8 minutes for fresh and 10-12 from frozen.  Drain and add sauce.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :)

Buckwheat Gnocchi

 

I considered making this during Passover, but further research led me to finding that buckwheat is part of kitniyot, so no.  You know, for it occurring only one week a year, the dietary restrictions really consume my meal-planning searches.

I'm starting with a fairly basic recipe from Kathy Bechtel's Italian Food, Wine, and Travel blog.  It kind of looks like she copied a generic instruction for making gnocchi, omitting the fork-rolling part, and ignored the properties of gluten-free flours.  She also admits that this can be a slightly sturdy, "rustic" tasting recipe, owing to the buckwheat.

So I'm not making it gluten-free.  It still has enough buckwheat in it for that earthy taste and to accomplish what I wanted out of my gnocchi, but there's wheat flour in here today because I do remember what my Passover gnocchi recipe was like to make.  Refer to original recipe if you prefer to go that route, but it's just the same as I've posted here with 1 C of buckwheat flour instead of splitting it.

2 lbs Yukon or Russet potatoes
*1/2 C buckwheat flour
1/2 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp kosher salt
1 egg, beaten

1.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Scrub potatoes clean and pierce once or twice to prevent potato-splosions.  Bake directly on the oven rack 1 hour to 75 minutes, until easily pierced.

2.  Remove potatoes from the oven with gloves or a towel and allow to cool 10 minutes on the counter.  Slice open and scoop out the insides.  Rice potatoes, either in a ricer or food mill.  Allow to cool and dry at room temperature.

3.  In a separate bowl, stir together both flours and salt.  Wow, that's a lot of salt, but it's also a lot of potatoes, and they need the help.  You can make up for it by putting less salt in the sauce.  Stir the flour mixture into the riced potatoes and work until combined.

4.  Stir in beaten egg and knead dough until it all comes together.  At this point, you can shape the gnocchi now or wrap the dough and use within 24 hours.  When ready to shape, start boiling a large pot of water.

5.  Dust a work surface with flour (either kind).  Cut dough into six pieces and roll each into a rope roughly 1/2" thick and 12" long.  Yes, it will break if you roll too hard, but not as badly as if you used only GF flour.  Cut into 1" pillows.

6.  Gently drop gnocchi into boiling water in batches.  They will sink, then float.  After the float, cook 2 more minutes, then carefully scoop out to a serving bowl.  The traditional topping for gnocchi is something simple like a flavored olive oil.  I thinned out some pesto and added fried radish pods (upcoming post) and grated parmesan, with roasted tomato and asparagus as sides.

My giant 6-serving pasta bowl that I have never used

Makes about 80 gnocchi pieces, 4 main servings or 6 sides

Difficulty rating  :)

Niçoise-ish Pasta Salad

I don't know why I bought a large can of tuna.  It was probably on sale.  I don't make tuna casserole or anything else you would need it for.  So I had to come up with something.

My mom used to like Salade Niçoise.  She didn't order it when we were in Nice, come to think of it.  There are several things in it I don't like, and it's a whole lot of work to assemble so many ingredients.  I decided to trim the ingredient list and open a jar of pickled artichokes to serve as both an ingredient and the base of the salad dressing.  I then arranged everything on top of some gemelli pasta that had been on clearance, instead of lettuce.  I bought it figuring it would be good for a pasta salad.  Just means I didn't have bread on the side, as I would have for a regular main course salad.

The best deal I found on the olives was a 4-pack of travel sized cups.  The rest were either stuffed with something I didn't want or really expensive.  How hard is it to make a basic olive canned in an unseasoned brine?  I know, supply chain shortages; I'm usually more flexible than this.  I was eyeing the black olives when I saw these.  Not as interesting for a fancy salad, but I was getting frustrated.  Had not realized until then how picky I am about my olives.

8oz gemelli pasta (or similar salad-friendly pasta)
4 oz haricots verts or whole green beans
1 C cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
*8 oz marinated artichoke hearts, drained, liquid reserved
4 oz niçoise or kalamata olives
*1 12 oz or 2 5-1/2 oz cans tuna in water, drained
*2 tsp Dijon or grainy mustard
Olive oil as needed
salt, pepper, dried oregano to taste

1.  Boil a large pot of water and cook pasta to package directions.  I actually weighed out the dry pasta instead of measuring by volume just to be a cooking nerd.  And now I have exactly half a box for another day.  When done, drain and rinse.

2.  While that is going on, prepare remaining ingredients.  Trim the ends of the beans and blanch in simmering water 5 minutes, until bright green.  Drain and chill.  Add mustard to artichoke brine and enough olive oil to equal 1/3 cup of dressing.  Taste dressing and add salt, pepper, or oregano as needed until you like it.  Drain tuna.  Cut tomatoes in half.

3.  Add half of dressing to the pasta and toss well.  Chill all ingredients until room temperature or cooler, at least 1 hour.

4.  To plate salads, start with the pasta.  Top with organized portions of beans, tomatoes, olives, artichokes, and tuna.  Drizzle with remaining dressing and serve.

Difficulty rating  π